Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126908
...... - ...... ..... 0. < (Above) Team Hammer couldn't be caught on t he t rack . (Below) Horn Bros. Racing (23) leads Team Racerback (99 ) and others. WERA/EBC Natiorud Endurtinee SerieS: Round J Hammer comes bae.atlnd~ By Larry Lawrence CLERMONT, IN, APR. 12 T wo-time WERA National Endurance Champions Team Hammer opened the 1986 seaso n wi th a convincing vic tory overa 79bike fie ld a t the opening ro u n d of the WE RA /EBC National Endurance Championship. Hammer traveled 480 miles ( 192 laps) on th eir Ara ilBel- Ra y/Emgo/ 14 Dunlop-sponsored Vance & H ines Suzuki GSXRIIOO in six h ours on th e 2.5-mile Indianapolis Racewa y Park roa d co u rse. Fin ishing four laps down in second pl ace was Hi gh T ech Racing o n a Yama ha FZ750, besting th ird-pl ace T h e H uman Race Team's Yamaha FZ600 by one la p . H ammer won la st yea r's open ing ro und h ere but sta rts th e 1986 seaso n with new faces a nd n ew mach in ery. T he new bike is a stock -framed Suzuki with F-l tank. seat and fairing. The new faces include riders Pat Hernon (a 21-year- old race r from Ohio wh o 's gai ned a reputat ion as o ne o f th e area 's best up a nd comers ), Da ve Sadowski (a Formula Two ace from New Ham psh ire, a lso 2 1) a nd Doug Toland (22, o ne of th e fast est AF M riders in California). T o ro u nd out th e new team, H a m mer recrui ted crew ch ief and chassis bu ild er Garv Hilgenberg, who tuned Wayne Ra i"nev's bikes for MacLean Raci ng in 1985. Hammer 's en gines are being bu ilt by Bill Foster , (no w working for Van ce &H ines), who engineered Cycle T ech Raci n g 's 1985 cha m p io nsh ipwinning effort. \VERA wi ll a p parent ly crown a new cha m pio n th is year sin ce Cycl e T ech Racing is reportedly defunct. Th e num ber two 1985 team , Speed Boys. a lso fail ed to show for th e first 1986 round . Sol max Racing returned this year with he lp C rom Yamaha in the for m of a new FZ750. Tea m Wanker, Tea m St. Louis an d Gen eri c Racin g a ll returned stronger th an ever. Several n ew tea ms co n testing th e series th is year are stro ng. High-T ech Ra cin g , with La rry jeurink an d Dave Lubbert s rid in g ar e looking very good wi th th eir seco n d-p lace finish h ere; th ev took second at an AMA /CCS rou'nd a t SI. Louis th e week before. The Human Race Team figures to be nea r th e to p all year with two oC th e finest riders in th e WER A northcentra l regio n , Kurt Ha ll a nd Robbie Braunschiede!. O th er top tea ms in clude Cra ne Racing , M&M Racing , Eatherl y Road Racing , Racing O ttaw a, Ho rn Bro s. a nd Fast Co m pany . T h e race began un der su n ny skies a nd fair tem pera tur es, a ra re co m bina tio n C Indy. At the green flag , or Tola nd wh eelied th e Hammer ma chi ne th rough four gears to gr ab a q uick lead, finall y setting th e fron t whee l down to enter turn o ne. Follow in g To la nd into th e first co rner was fo rme r H ammer rid er Dav e Schl osser o n th e Ea the rly Road Ra cing GSXRIIOO , j eurink a t th e co n tro ls for Hi gh -Tech foll owed by M&M Racin g, Horn Bro s. Racing a nd Free Bud Racin g . As th e first hour progressed T oland co nt in ued to run away Crom th e rest oC th e field, turning co ns is ten t oneminute, 45-seco n d laps regardless of traffic; 40 m inutes into th e race, Toland had lapped th e entire field . Toland had built up a two-minute, 15-second lead over second place before pining just before the end ofthe first hour. Hernon hopped on the Hammer Suzuki but, unfamiliar with bump-starting th e new bike, was un able to get it fired up. T eam Hammer franticall y tried to start th e bike, but Eatherly Racin g got by before Hammer's ma chine was able to continue. Solmax Racing's Chris Chandler cra shed hard during the first hour, kn ockin g th at team o u t of contention. " We' re goi n g to try to get th e bike back together to a t least get some points," said a dejected Ron n ie Bowen . So lm ax did m anage to get th e bike back together a nd finished 49th after cras h ing once more. Meanwhile, Hernon sta rted making up for th e earlier lost time and befo re th e end of th e seco nd hour had regained the lead. Schlosser, who led after Toland pined, turned the bik e over to h is partner, Bill Eatherly, who crashed. The Human Race T eam (H RT) poured o n the juice during th e second hour a nd climbed in to th e second posit ion o n th eir La ke Co . Cycles / WoICe Pi pes-backed FZ600. j ohn Bo wles is a lwa ys to ug h a t Indy, a nd h e was m ovin g Fast Company's Fjll OO right up th rough th e field durin g th at seco nd hour. At the ha lfway mark, Team Ha m me r h ad co mpleted 97 la ps. H ighTech Racing had guided their Relia b le Cycle/Larry Scheidt-backed FZ750 into second with 93 laps. H RT, M&M Racing and j am-Up Ra cing had a ll co mpleted 92 laps. Kevin Ren tzell 's j am- Up Racing was tough last year in th e WERA sou theast regi on. but th is was o ne o f h is first ventures to a north ern track. It didn' t tak e long for Rentzell to get th e hang of Ind y a nd soon he bega n tu rnin g very respectable lap times . " I kn ow Ed Key reall y knows th is track ," said Rent zell . " I j ust sta rte d following and wa tching hi m . I decided to try a nd pass h im but ended u p slidi ng side wa ys in turn two tryin g to ' do it ," sa id Renr zell . wh o rode wi th T im Sloa n. . T ea m H am mer 's la rge lead evaporat ed agai n in the fourt h h ou r as the Hammer mach ine ro lled to a sto p , o u t of gas on the back straigh t, on the la p Tola nd was sched u led 10 p it o n. A broken a lu m in u m exha ust silence r core had restricted th e a ir flow , ca using hi gh fuel cons u m p tion . Amazin gl y, H ammer lost on ly four lapson T ol and 's long push /run back fro m th e o the r side of th e track. One h our lat er. th e team was back in front with a health y lead. Going in to th e last hour it was obvi ou s no o ne was going to ca tch Hammer if th ey had no more problem s. Even th e seco nd-fastest bike on th e track, High-T ech Ra cing's Yarnaha , co u ld n' t keep close to Hammer 's blazin g pace. Hi gh -Tech 's best laps were I:49s. Tola nd did so me I:44s a nd a single hi gh I :42 in hi s seco nd rid e. It was Tola nd 's first event a t IRP. The race had seu led into a fa irl y even ly spaced co ntest betw een the top five teams with on ly minutes to go . T he o n ly posit ion really in quest ion wa s th e battle for fifth betw een j amU p Racin g a nd Cra ne Racing's 1986 Honda VFR750F. T ol and came in for a final stop for fuel with less than 30 minutes to go. The mood was fairl y relaxed in the Ha m mer pit, th e co n fiden ce back a fter being sha ken in a dismal 1985 seaso n. At the end o f six hours , Toland wheelied the length of th e stra igh ta way, cro ssing th e finish line in fif th gear to take th e checkered flag, and the scoring tow er erupted in cheers. H igh -T ech took second, followed by The H u man Race T eam, M&M Racing, j am -Up Ra cing in fifth and then Cr ane Racing . At th e trophy presentation the word was " T ea m Hammer is back!" And at this point it does look like it might be a long season for Team Ha m mer's competition. • Results OVERA LL: 1. Teem Hem mer, Suz GSXRl l00 (Doug Toland/ Deve Sedowski /Pel Her non) 192 leps; 2. High -Tech Recing. Vem FZ750 (terry Je ur in k/David Lu bben) 188 laps; 3 . The Human Race Team~ Yam FZ600 (Kurt Hall /Robbie B r a unsc h i e ~ del/Dsve Zupenl1 87 Isps ; 4. M & M Recin g. Vem FZ750 (Ben Mertine z/Bob Francisl 18 6 leps; 5 . Jam-U p Racing. Vam FZ600 (Kevin Rentze ll lTim Sloe nl 185 leps ; 6. Crene Reang. Hon VFR75 0F (Fred Eklow/ Devid teppelmeier) 185 lepa; 7. Horn 8 ros. Reang. Vam FZ750 (Chris Horn /John Hornl 183 laps; 8. Two Guys Who Rees. Vem FZ750 (Ed Key /Sleven Wentworthl 184 teps. 9 . o ut & Out Racing, Vam FJ600 {Mare Lantzenhiser/ Greg Hansell 184 leps; 10. Teem Recerbeclt, Kew 600R (Kenneth PllYIon/Sleele Kennedy/Phillip Pattersonl 183leps. OVERALL SERIESSTANDINGS: 1. Team Hammer (515 pIS.): 2. High·Tech Racing (500 pls.l; 3 . The Huma n Race (494.5 pt s.]: 4 . M & M Racing (490 pI s.'; 5. Jam ·Up Racing (486 .5 pIS.'; 6 . Crane Racing (4 8 5.5 pts .); 7 . Horn 8 ros. Racing (482 pts.I; 8 . Two Guys Who Race (481 pt s.): 9. Out & Out Racing (477.5 pIS): 10 . Team Racerback (4 76 .5 pts] . HVYWT PROD: 1. M 8< M Racing (Vam); 2. Horn 8 ros. (Vam,; 3. Two Guys W ho Race (Yam). HVYWT SUPER8IKE ; 1. High-Tech Racing (Yaml; 2. Cran e Racing (Hon); 3. Sai li ng Shoes (Suz). M EDIUMWT PROD: 1. OUI & Oul Racing (Yaml; 2. Team Fubar (Yamt; 3. Team V elocity (Yam). HVYWT SUPERBIKE: 1. The Human Raca Team (Vam); 2. Jam-Up Racing (Vaml ; 3 . Team Racerback (Kaw ). LTWT PROD: 1. Royale Racing (Yam ); 2. Dexter · Pickney (Yam); 3. Team Buckeye (Yam). LTWT SUPER8IKE : 1. Team Kurtz-Moto (M -G); 2. Great lake Scal e (Hon); 3 . Team Sto ne A:J( (Suzl · PROTOTYPE; 1. Teem Hemmer (Suz); 2. H & W Red ng (Hon); 3 . Team Thunder (Hon).